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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24604393">Great Light of Morning</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slugly/pseuds/Slugly'>Slugly</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Empty Nest [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword &amp; Shield | Pokemon Sword &amp; Shield Versions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Study, Fluff, He/him pronouns for Hop, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Not Beta Read, Other, Short &amp; Sweet, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Trans Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 08:20:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>653</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24604393</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slugly/pseuds/Slugly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Victor thinks about how much he loves his partner. </p><p> </p><p>title from red sparrow by mree</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hop/Masaru | Victor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Empty Nest [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610455</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Great Light of Morning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He's looking at Victor with eyes like sunlight, long, dark lashes across his cheekbones, thick brows contorted in an expression of confusion. His lips are full, quirked up with amusement, thick nose twitching just slightly. His hair has fallen into his face, but he doesn't care.</p><p>He's beautiful.</p><p>Victor has never been beautiful. His eyes are the colour of the Motostoke sky, a pale but murky bluegrey and nothing if not plain. He's had acne since puberty struck, just bad enough to be a constant embarrassment, and his pale skin flushes brilliant red with the force of a strong wind.</p><p>He's not jealous, though. Far from it.</p><p>He's overjoyed, if not more than a little shocked, that Hop loves him. It's something he repeats to himself constantly, never quite able to internalise that he's genuinely loved by someone so wonderful.</p><p>Arceus. Hop <em>loves</em> him. He's still floored.</p><p>Hop's fingers, long and thin with nails always bitten down to the nub, never stop moving. In this way, Victor is the same. They tap incongruent rhythms on the table of the train between cities, pretending they match up. Victor tries to keep from biting his own nails, because the <em>clack</em> is more satisfying.</p><p>"What're you thinkin' about?" He interrupts Victor's train of thought, voice lighter and younger than Victor's own. Somehow, their accents have never been quite the same. Mum thinks it symptomatic of the Da Victor and Gloria never knew, as if somehow his thick Circhester roll carried on through DNA. But Hop is as southern as it gets, sounding enough like a Postwick native for the both of them. It's the way everyone here speaks, but for some reason it sounds so much better in Hop's voice.</p><p>"You," Victor responds simply. He speaks like it's midnight, with the hushed quality only heard in kids at sleepovers and couples pillow-talking. It's not like he's particularly tired, though he wouldn't be opposed to an impromptu nap here on Hop's bed. It's too small for two growing teenagers, but he likes the feeling of Hop pressed against him, warm and alive and gentle as can be, and he thinks it would be so easy, too easy, to fall asleep right here, right now.</p><p>Hop laughs incredulously, his own voice taking a quieter quality. "What d'you mean?" He asks, searching Victor's eyes for clues. His freshly-lacquered hand rests on Victor's, warm against Victor's constantly frozen skin. Victor wants to hold his hand properly.</p><p>"Just... <em>you,"</em> Victor clarifies unhelpfully. He wets his lip, nervous for some reason. "You. You're beautiful, is all."</p><p>Hop's skin isn't wont to show a blush like Victor's constantly is, so he doesn't redden at all, but he certainly looks bashful, eyes getting wide and nervous and hopeful as he absorbs the compliment. Hop has never been good at compliments.</p><p>"D'ya-" he hesitates, eyes softening. "...Thank you."</p><p>Victor is mostly sure he knows what Hop was going to ask. <em>Do you really mean it?</em> And of course he does. More than anything. Hop is nothing but stunning, inside and out.</p><p>Hop makes Victor's heart skip measures.</p><p>Victor wishes he could tell Hop everything he loves head to toe, starting with the fluffy, ratty, unreasonably soft pile of hair atop his head and ending at the inconsistent rhythms he taps with his feet through purple converse once property of Leon (not that he wore them long- they were two sizes too big, so, perfect for his much taller little sibling). But he simply doesn't know how.</p><p>"I can't imagine anything more beautiful," he says instead, and grins when Hop blushes so hard he can actually see it.</p><p>"Stooop," Hop tucks his head under Victor's chin, burying his face in his chest. He wraps his arms around Victor's body loosely. "I'm gonna cry, you know!"</p><p>Victor laughs a little, weaving his hands in Hop's hair and playing with the wooloo-soft strands. "And that'd be beautiful, too." </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I imagine Victor and Gloria have something similar to a Lancashire accent. Hop and Leon have RP, or close to it. Maybe something like Hampshire? Full transparency, I'm very American.</p><p>my tumblr is newexcalibur, feel free to hmu there!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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